1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of electrical connectors and more particularly to a solderless connector having conductors that are an integral part of flex circuitry intended to be coupled together.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
As the usefulness of electronic equipment has expanded with the increase in technological improvement and with the widening demand, both militarily and commercially for equipment capable of handling vast quantities of information at increased rates of speed, the need for high density electronic packaging has become of increasing importance. A concomitant of this trend is the need for circuit protection and miniaturization which, while providing the requisite component density, maintains both system reliability and serviceability. Under the thrust of this expanding use, it has become an economic necessity to provide a circuit component construction which is of reduced density and which includes interconnecting means for coupling into the electronic equipment which both minimizes the possibility of error in field maintenance procedures and reduces overall system complexity.
With increasing component packaging design, the reliability of circuit interconnections has become of paramount significance. Particularly, this is true with respect to the design, construction and interconnection of circuit components and assemblages which carry out the basic work function of the electronic equipment utilizing flex circuitry. Conventionally, electrical circuit networks employ a wide strip of plastic encased, spaced apart electrical conductors which is known as a flex cable or flex circuit. Joining terminating ends of such cables so that appropriate conductors are both mechanically and electrically connected generally requires soldering the ends of the conductors to pins, terminals or the like. Such a procedure is very expensive, time-consuming and labor intensive. Attempts have been made to avoid the soldering procedure which contemplates piercing or crimping a pin to the conductor; however, these procedures have been found to be unreliable and to result in intermittent connection.
Therefore, a long-standing need has existed to provide an integral connector joining a plurality of conductors together in a flex circuit without the necessity of soldered connections or joints.